In 1965 Egyptian archaeologists discovered a mosaic in an ancient synagogue in Gaza. Only a few distorted black-and-white photographs remain from that initial excavation.
When the excavation was first published, in 1966 in the Italian journal Orientalia, the structure was identified as an ancient church, and the mosaic’s central figure as a female saint playing the harp, surrounded by animals. When Hebrew University professor Michael Avi-Yonah saw the photos, however, he quickly read the Hebrew inscription by the harpist’s head that says “David” and recognized that this was instead a depiction of the famous Israelite king and musician, and that the structure was in fact an ancient synagogue.
Not long after Israel took control of Gaza in the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli archaeologists hurried to the site, only to find that the mosaic had been badly damaged and several areas, including David’s head and one of his hands, were now gone.
The mosaic was carefully removed from the site by the Israel Department of Antiquities. Many years later, the restoration laboratory at the Israel Museum, Jerusalem, directed by Ruth Yekutiel, reassembled and restored the extant mosaic pieces and reconstructed some of the missing portions.a With only the early black-and-white photos to guide them, the conservators in the 1990s used advanced computer software to correct the images until the mosaic appeared straight-on, rather than in the angled perspective at which it had been photographed. They then projected the newly aligned portrait onto the mosaic and traced the outlines of the damaged features onto plaster that had been applied to the missing areas, thus recreating King David’s head and crown, hand and portions of his harp. Because there was no color information in the photographs, the conservators decided to reconstruct David’s head only in shades of brown and gray, rather than try to guess the original colors.
When the mosaic went on display in the 1990s, the Jerusalem Post art critic called the reconstruction “cartoon-like.”b
Now David has gotten an updated look after another round of reconstructive work done during the renewal of the museum’s archaeology galleries. According to Andrei Vainer, head of the Israel Museum restoration laboratory, this latest attempt employed a more 015artistic approach to filling in some of the missing data than the earlier, more schematic approach. In the 1990s “Our focus was on using the computer-generated image to accurately get the dimensions and basic outlines of the head. We tended to trust what was then a new and exciting technology and did not want to treat it beyond the facial outline,” says Vainer. The new reconstruction used Photoshop to correct the angle of the old black and white photo—with much better results than 20 years ago. The restorers also decided to paint colorful tesserae (mosaic stones) in the reconstructed areas. The key to reconstructing the ancient colors was comparing the extant colors as seen in the black and white photo to the unknown tones of gray in the adjusted Photoshop image. They also focused on the shading of the image and added new details to the upper portion of the king’s crown, halo, garment, throne and feet.
What was once cartoonish now more closely resembles the image of King David that was enjoyed by the Jews who prayed in this synagogue in the sixth century.
In 1965 Egyptian archaeologists discovered a mosaic in an ancient synagogue in Gaza. Only a few distorted black-and-white photographs remain from that initial excavation.
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
